Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Sorn
To Chiangmai - we flew from Taipei to Bangkok and brought a ticket to Chiangmai on Air Asia. The flight was one hour late so we got in around 6pm. Dad picked us up and took us to the hotel he reserved for us - the Lotus hotel at Kad Suan Kaew. Then went to the base of Doi Suthep for dinner at a fancy restaurant. This place has a nice view of the city, a nice pond and live entertainment. The food was very good, but pretty pricey. Below - Tom Ka coconut soup, Chiangmai sample platter and Som Tum papaya salad. The sample platter has green chili dip, sausage, vegetable, pork rind, etc... yummm...
Our hotel lobby. This is a very nice hotel, dad got a discount from being a member of the buddist society.
The next day we went to Doi Suthep. The first stop is the temple of course. 309 steps to the temple. The 7 headed nagas on the steps are really cool.
Michelle had a hard time with the candle. We did the vientien - walk around 3 times with incense.
This Chedi contains a relic from buddha. Read more about Doi Suthep at wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Phrathat_Doi_Suthep
Then we went around the temple to see the view of the city, it was very smoggy though so the view wasn't that great. The hills tribes are field burning around this time of the year so there are a lot of smoke everywhere. When we were young we used to go around and rang all the bells around the temple. This time we only did half because it was too loud and hurts the ear Lily said. getting old I guess. ;)
Afterward the temple, we went to the Royal family summer resident. They have very nice flowers here.
Mom said it's getting hot so the flowers are not as nice now, best in February. There is a Chiangmai flower festival in Feb. so maybe we'll try to come around that time next trip.
On the way down, we went to say hi to the Pandas at the Chiangmai Zoo. They were super cute, so fluffy and human like. Mom used Aunt Eng's card so we got in for free, but still had to pay to see the panda. It was definitely worthed though, first time I've seen a panda live.
Kaw Soi, a Chiangmai specialty - curry noodle with Burmese influence. Hard to find in the US.
Kan Tok dinner that night. This is a traditional Northern dinner, they are making it a dinner and show now, good business. Joe hauling Michelle to the show. whew....
Kan Tok is the little table there. We sit on the floor and eat traditional food with our fingers - sticky rice, young chili dip, nam prik ong, kang hunglay, mee krob, soup, and Singha beer. The food was mediocre, but it was a lot of fun showing the farangs how to eat with their hands. :)
farangs usually mean white people
The show was great. We got a discount because cousin Phu works here, he a bartender. I think we paid 300B each. Here is one of the dancer.
Phu got the Hanuman guy to come take a photo with us.
Rum Vong at the end of the show. The dancers grabbed Lily and Syd to do a traditional end of the show dance. :)
Good job Syd. :)
The next day we went to Elephant camp. The driver took us to Mae Taman elephant camp, but we didn't like them because they wanted us to pay 1800B for a package tour that will takes 3 hours. We didn't have time and that was pretty expensive. So we went back to Mae Sa elephant camp, we've been to this one before, but it's really good. I think we each paid 240B to get in and 400B to ride elephant for 30 minutes.
football demonstration
elephant ride. Our elephant has to get up at 4am and make her way to the camp by 7am. They stop working at 2pm because it is too hot in the summer time.
little elephant is so cute.
We gave them 20B for pictures.
Said good bye to the cute elephants and went to pick mom and dad up. Then drove to Jum Tong to sleep on a raft in the reservoir. We packed dinner and didn't have to buy anything from raft service. We swam a bit too, it was hot.
Dad got some lanterns for us to play with. We got 3 out of 5 to float, not bad... It was pretty tough, I think the little breeze made it difficult. It was a lot of fun, thanks dad!!!!
go go go go....
It got a little chilly at 4am. It was very nice and peaceful in the morning. I think the girls can only rough it like this for one day. ;)
An unusual Sing at a temple - Burmese influence?
The road to Mae Hong Sorn was super winding, it took us forever to get there. Our van driver was a slow driver too. We stopped at a long neck Karen village. Lily said she was uncomfortable with the living condition. Well, this is the booney in a developing country so yeah it's not all that peachy. 8)
Michelle got a scarf from her.
Lily and Syd are so picky, they spend so little in Thailand. Come on, support the Thai tourism industry. cheapo... 8b
We saw one old lady with a lot of rings, but the younger ladies have fewer rings.
Mae Hong Sorn. This is a Pra That temple, another temple with a buddha relic.
The next morning we woke up early to go the morning market. The monks are out early to receive food offering. read more at the link.
http://www.enjoythaifood.com/thaimonksfood.php
Kanom Krok - yummy... breakfast. We got some roti too.
warm soy milk, pa tong ko (chinese donut), Kanom Krok and more.. yummm... food in Thailand is so much better and more convenient that in the states.
Stopped at a temple on our way out. This is near the night market where we went to eat last night.
One last temple - reclining buddha. This is a Burmese style wodden buddha, the face is very Burmese style.
Stair way with Sing guardians.
Naga and outdoor cement buddah.
rest room stop - 3B each since the Maew had to haul water up from the stream. Dad bought out her hills tribe rice.
Stopped at a Tum Lod to go for a cave tour. This area has many caves and we would have stopped at more places if we had time. This one, you can either walk or take a raft. Each raft is 600B and only 3 person per raft so we decided to walk. The raft can reach one 3rd cavern in the back, but actually what we saw was quite enough. We needed a guide per 3 people so we got two guides - 150B each.
On our way to the 2nd cavern, had to climb some steep steps.
Most pictures didn't come out that great.
Almost made it out - crossing a bamboo bridge. This cave was definitely worthed a stop.
lunch - I had basil chicken, forgot to tell them not to put chilies. I can handle it though, just scoot all the chilies to the side.
Pad Thai in omelette wrapper for Michelle.
Next stop Bangkok
** roar ***
Sonkgran in Portland. A store near Chinatown had a show and there were tons of people there.
Lily & Zoey being good for once.
